Biology and Medicine

Abstract

Evaluation of antidiabetic activity of medicinal plant extracts used by tribal communities in rural areas of Warangal district, Andhra Pradesh, India

Esampally Sucharitha, Mamidala Estari

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is increasing with ageing of the population and life style changes associated with rapid urbanization and westernization. Physalis minima is widely used in Indian medicine by the tribal communities to treat various diseases including diabetes. The present study was aimed at assessing the hypoglycemic effects of extracts from P. minima in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. The powdered plant parts were successfully extracted with boiling water using soxhlet extractor. The Wister strains of male albino rats were used for the present study. The antihyperglycemic activity of the crude aqueous extracts of P. minima different parts were studied in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. The toxicity study results showed that the medium lethal dose (LD50) of the extracts is higher than 1g/kg body weight and hence, in a single dose administration, the plant extracts had no adverse effect. There is no significant level of reduction in fasting blood glucose level was noticed for the aqueous extracts of root and stem of P. minima. On chronic administration, the effect of P. minima flower and leaf causes a fall in fasting blood sugar of rats. These findings clearly established that the antidiabetic efficacy of the flower and leaf extract of P. minima are almost equal and both exhibited more potent antidiabetic activity by reducing the blood glucose level significantly than all other root and stem extracts.